Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
AUGUST18 V102 N6FORUMINFORMING & INSPIRING
ASSOCIATION PROFESSIONALS SINCE 1916
38The Business of
Memory Keeping
26RFP Should Stand for
“Risks Full Productivity”
How Can Association Professionals Get Big Things Done?
30The
AMAZON Quandary
FORUM_August2018Cover.indd 1 8/10/18 2:42 PM
ROSE CAME FOR AN ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE.
AND LEFT CALMED BY THE SOUNDS OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.
You may be coming to Jacksonville for a convention, but you will leave as so much more. A paddle boarder, shell collector, professional shopper – the activities are endless in Jacksonville. Do what you love or try something new. Meet yourself in Jacksonville.
To learn more about hosting your next event in Jacksonville, visit meetinjax.com.
FORUM_August2018Cover.indd 2 8/10/18 2:42 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 1
26 30CASE IN POINTBIG PICTURE, ASSOCIATION FOCUS
AUGUST18 V102 N6
Thought Leadership: More Than a BuzzwordWhen you think of a "thought leader," you probably picture an individual, but organiza-tions can be thought leaders as well. In fact, organizations should strive to be thought leaders, since members often look to associa-tions for the latest and greatest insights into their industry. To create a thought leadership strategy, you must understand what sort of content your members want, as well as their preferences for accessing it.
RFP Should Stand for “Risks Full Productivity” The RFP process can be arduous, time-intensive and frustrating for associations. It isn’t much different on the other side either. Companies and agencies that are bidding for business can no longer follow a one-size-fits-all approach, as understanding the needs of an organization is as important as the financial elements of a bid. FORUM spoke to some folks on both sides of the process about how the RFP process is evolving and what you can do to make it easier on yourself and others.
The AMAZON QuandaryPoint. Click. Click. With almost alarming ease, you just bought a toaster on Amazon from your bed and it will be delivered before lunchtime. However, selling on Amazon isn’t as simple, so the decision to list your associa-tion’s branded and developed content on the world’s largest marketplace should involve a thorough analysis of benefits and concerns. In this article, FORUM walks through the pros and cons of selling your products on Amazon and the questions you should ask yourself before diving in.
2630
Follow Us
20 IN THE SPOTLIGHT
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 1 8/10/18 2:44 PM
2 FORUM AUGUST 2018
Departments6 Heard Around
42 Advertisers Index
44 Education Calendar
46 Above & Beyond
48 News to Use
Columns14 Law Review
ASK THE EXPERT
ASK AROUND
34 How Can Association Professionals Get Big Things Done? Erica Dhawan, the co-author of Get Big Things Done: The Power of Connectional Intelligence, was the opening keynote speaker at Forum Forward 2018, where she presented to the sold-out crowd of association professionals the importance of quality relationships and community-build-ing frameworks that capitalize on the peer-to-peer nature of the association industry.
38The Business of Memory KeepingDoes your association have an archive? Before you think about it, the answer is "yes." It may not necessarily look like the Citadel of Oldtown, with multitudes of dusty volumes stacked skyward, but all those event photos, exhibitor prospectuses, meeting minutes and even Twitter logs make up an archive that tell your association’s story. Teresa Brinati, director of publishing for the Soci-ety of Archives, reports on how associations are keeping their history alive.
Digital Extras
• Association Media & Publishing, “2017 Publishing Benchmarking Study”
Access this issue’s bonus content on your mobile device:
Download the app! Search “FORUM Magazine” on iTunes, Google Play or Amazon.
34
Jack Cook CLU, ChFC,RHU
[email protected] www.cookandkocher.com
More than 100 Association and Non-Profits in the Chicagoland area rely on CKIG
Group Health, Dental, Life, and LTD Insurance
Specialty Errors and Omissions
Insurance
Cyber Liability Insurance
Property/Casual Insurance
Directors and Officers Liability
Insurance
894383_Cook.indd 1 27/01/18 04:31
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 2 8/10/18 2:44 PM
At Rosen Hotels & Resorts, we are independently owned and operated. Which means we are free to be ourselves, to get creative with custom concessions that add real value for planners, and to constantly reinvest in our properties. Come see what independence can do for you.
HAVE YOU EXPE R IE NCE D
THE ROSEN D IF FE RE NCE ?
Rosen Plaza • Rosen Centre • Rosen Shingle Creek
Contact us for details: WeAreOrlando.us | 407.996.4890 | [email protected]
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 3 8/10/18 2:44 PM
4 FORUM AUGUST 2018
10 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 800Chicago, IL 60606
Phone: 312.924.7000Email: [email protected]: www.associationforum.org
INFORMING & INSPIRING ASSOCIATION PROFESSIONALS SINCE 1916
ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES
Senior Manager, Business DevelopmentPhyllis Scott312.924.7033 [email protected]
Marketing StrategistBrittany Thompson800.369.6220, ext. [email protected]
FORUM (ISSN 1056-0092) is published monthly
with combined January/February, June/July and November/December issues by Association Forum, 10 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60606. Periodical postage paid at Chicago, Illinois, and additional mailing office. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to FORUM, 10 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60606. Subscription rate for members is $15, which is included with dues.
Copyright © 2018 by Association Forum. All rights reserved. Statements of fact and opinion are the responsibility of the authors alone and do not imply an opinion on the part of the officers or members.
FORUM ’s mission is to serve as an innovative resource that anticipates the needs of the association management profession.
Editorial Contributions. You are invited to share your expertise and perspective. Article ideas and manuscripts should, whenever possible, reflect real and specific experiences. Before writing, please contact Association Forum at 312.924.7031 for the FORUM Editorial Requirements & Guidelines, or obtain them at www.associationforum.org. FORUM reserves the right to edit all articles.
FORUM EDITORIAL WORKING GROUP, 2018-2019
PublisherMichelle Mason, FASAE, [email protected]
Content + Publications ManagerDan [email protected]
Graphic Design ManagerMatthew [email protected]
Working Group Chair Kerri A. Leo
Vice Chair Teresa Brinati
Board of Directors Liaison Mitchell L. Dvorak
Staff Liaison Dan Shea
Members Connie ArkusJennifer ClarkCharles CohonChloe DanielsCourtney L. Kiss
JoAnna M. LeonMarilyn MagesLisa J. MikitaBrooke MorrisLen MurphyDan NielsonMary Ann PassiLynn PehanichDavid R. SiehoffMatt SwitzerAmy ThomassonCandice WarltierNathalie WilliamsGregg F. Witt
AUGUST18 V102 N6
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
FORUM ®
ChairLynne Thomas Gordon, CAEAmerican Association of Orthodontists
Chair-ElectMitchell Dvorak, MS, CAEInternational Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
Secretary-TreasurerGeoffrey Brown, CAENational Association of Personal Financial Advisors
Immediate Past ChairRob Paterkiewicz, CAE, MBA, IOMSelected Independent Funeral Homes
DirectorsMarc Anderson Executive Vice President Choose Chicago
Gregory Heidrich Executive DirectorSociety of Actuaries
Ralph Gaillard, M.Ed. Chief Learning Director Illinois CPA Society and Foundation
Brad Kent, CTASenior Vice President/Chief Sales & Services OfficerVisit Dallas
Colleen Lawler, CAE, IOMExecutive DirectorSociety of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists
Kimberly Mosley, CAE President American Speciality Toy Retailing Association
Carol Pape, CAEChief Operating OfficerAssociation of Professional Chaplains
Paul Pomerantz, FASAE, CAEChief Executive OfficerAmerican Society of Anesthesiologists
Butch Spyridon President/CEONashville Convention & Visitors Corporation
President and CEOMichelle Mason, FASAE, CAEAssociation Forum
Legal Counsel Jed Mandel, J.D.Chicago Law Partners LLC
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 4 8/10/18 2:44 PM
Discover The Palm Beaches, Sales Agent for Meetings & Conventions in Palm Beach County | The Best Way to Meet in Florida®
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 5 8/10/18 2:44 PM
6 FORUM AUGUST 2018
HeardAround
Celebrating the Industry at Honors Gala 2018
With the spirit of Carnival in the air, over 700 association leaders, supplier partners and guests convened at the Marriott Marquis Chicago for the annual Honors Gala, the premier fundraising event for the Association Forum Foundation.
Honors Gala | June 28, 2018 | Marriott Marquis Chicago
Honors Gala is an opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of Association Forum members and toast the future of the indus-try. The Marriott Marquis Chicago played host to the event for the first time. Chicago Catz, one of Chicago’s best cover bands, kept attendee’s feet dancing until the party moved upstairs to the After Glow on the 35th floor, where guests were treated to an unbeat-able panoramic view of Chicago.
This year, Association Forum introduced a brand-new honor, the Welcoming Environment Organizational Award, to celebrate an organization who exemplifies the Association Forum core value of Welcoming Environment (WE) by providing an inclusive culture for its members and its staff. Since it was first introduced in 2015, the idea behind the WE initiative has been to encourage and guide associations in implementing their own Welcoming En-vironment by providing resources and thought leadership around the importance of an inclusive culture.
The award, presented in the form of a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork created by the Nancy Pochis Bank Art Studio, was given to CCIM Institute. The organization’s CEO, Gregory
Fine, FASAE, CAE and Alex Hanba, director of human resources and administration, accepted the award on CCIM’s behalf.
“We’ve worked really hard to create a culture that is welcom-ing, inclusive and diverse,” Hanba said in CCIM’s award video. “It was our entire staff coming together to make this what it is.”
Association Forum would like to extend a heartfelt con-gratulations to all the recipients of the 2018 Honors Awards: Evan Williams, CAE, IOM, director of professional services and resources at the Appraisal Institute, recipient of the John C. Thiel Distinguished Service Award; Kate Dockins, CAE, vice president/volunteer leadership development at the Institute of Food Tech-nologists, recipient of the Association Professional Achievement Award; Pauli Undesser, BS, MS, MWS, CAE, executive director of the Water Quality Association, recipient of the Inspiring Leader Award; and Deborah Bowen, FACHE, CAE, president and CEO of the American College of Healthcare Executives, recipient of the Samuel B. Shapiro Award for Chief Staff Executive Achievement.
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 6 8/10/18 2:44 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 7
Celebrating the Industry at Honors Gala 2018
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 7 8/10/18 2:44 PM
8 FORUM AUGUST 2018
HeardAround
Innovating Upward: Forum Forward 2018
The goal of Forum Forward is to facilitate important conversations between industry leaders on how associations can construct, deconstruct and reconstruct their strategies and models to ensure the longevity and sustainability of their organizations. We continued that tradition in 2018 with education that concentrated on takeaways that attendees could use to make an immediate impact, topped off with additional opportunities that encouraged peer-to-peer learning.
The sold-out, one-day event took place at Venue SIX10, a true education-based venue. The venue provided the ideal setting for riveting, interactive sessions, as well as unbeatable views overlooking Grant Park and Lake Michigan. A few of the day’s highlights included:
Two Incredible Keynotes
Erica Dhawan, the opening keynote speaker, spoke about the Power of Connectional Intelligence. Dhawan is renowned speaker and thought leader who stresses the importance of quality relationships and a concept she pioneered known as connectional intelligence. For more from Dhawan on this subject, check out this month’s Ask the Expert article on page 34.
Nadya Okamoto, co-founder and CEO of PE-RIOD, represented Generation Z and talked to the crowd about how to motivate and mobilize the new-est group of workers. Currently a student at Harvard, Okamoto provided insight into the story of how she built one of the fastest-growing NGOs for women’s health. For more on Okamoto and her organization, see our profile in the June/July issue of FORUM.
Innovative Learning
This year, Forum Forward introduced a new, collab-orative learning opportunity in the form of Pop-up POV, which was a chance for attendees to lead the conversation based on notecards they pinned to the Pop-Up POV board. Participants were encourage to discuss the issues that mattered most to them and glean insights from their fellow association profes-sionals.
At lunch, attendees heard from Greg Fine, FA-SAE, CAE, on how associations can build a Welcom-ing Environment. Then, speech pathologist Kate DeVore led everyone in a fun breathing exercise designed to increase their vocal power.
CEOnly® Summit
Over 60 association CEOs attended the CEOnly Summit at Forum Forward. Lynne Thomas Gordan, CAE, chair of the Association Forum board of direc-tors, opened up the Summit with her remarks before introducing the keynote speaker, Diane Swonk, the chief economist at Grant Thornton. Swonk’s presentation was on the State of the Economy for Associations, providing an economic outlook for the U.S. and internationally.
The CEO attendees then heard from a variety of speakers in compact, Ted Talk-style presenta-tions from Sherrif Karamat, CEO of the Professional Convention Managers Association (PCMA), Mary Kate Cunningham, CAE, senior director of public policy at ASAE and Kimberley Mosley, CAE, CPE, president of the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association. Those presenters were then joined by Okamoto and Swonk for a panel discussion mod-erated by Paul Pomerantz, CEO of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA).
“The CEOnly Summit was a unique chance to talk to chief executives directly about the most pressing policy issues in the industry,” said Cun-ningham. “There are so many public policy issues threatening associations right now, such as attacks on voluntary professional certification and the new 21 perecent tax on employee transportation ben-efits, so it was wonderful to get to speak to so many association CEOs about these issues and to hear what issues matter most to them.”
“The panel was designed to stimulate debate and discussion around common challenges and the role of associations,” said Pomerantz. “The excit-ing part of the CEOnly Summit was the diversity and engagement of our CEO community. The main theme that stood out was the need for organizations to innovate and transform, to provide leadership to their industries and communities, and to create that
Forum Forward | June 27, 2018 | Venue SIX10
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 8 8/10/18 2:44 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 9
welcoming environment for engagement of profes-sionals of all backgrounds.”
Having Okamoto on the panel allowed CEOs to learn more about Generation Z, who are prepar-ing to enter the workforce, whether employers and associations are ready or not. “This was a real eye opener,” said Pomerantz. “Gen Z is just coming into the workforce and as the first generation raised on social media, they have a much different view of social responsibility, privacy and engagement, and entrepreneurialism. This is a very proactive genera-tion (think Parkland). Associations will be chal-lenged to understand and serve this group, while also engaging three other diverse generations.”
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 9 8/10/18 2:44 PM
10 FORUM AUGUST 2018
Three Tips to Own the Room for Your Next PresentationPublic speaking may come naturally to some, but for those of us who prefer to get our point across through written word or one-on-one conversations, the idea of addressing a large group can be nerve-wracking. But there’s good news. According to voice/speech pathologist Kate DeVore, stage fright is perfectly normal. “I work with veteran actors who have been performing professionally for 60 years, and they're still terrified before they walk on stage,” she says. “It's not something to resist or fight; it’s something that will be there. So, it's helpful to embrace it and channel that energy, rather than trying to make it go away.”
With an M.A. in speech pathology and an extensive background in theatre, DeVore can build a bridge between the artistic and scientific worlds of effec-tive communication. Below, she provides three tips for improving your public speaking that you can implement today.
Prepare
“You know perfectly well that when you get up to give a presentation, if you're not quite ready, you're more nervous—and with good reason,” says DeVore. “Be as prepared as you can, so that when you get up there, you're not focusing on your performance—you're focusing on delivering your message.”
Preparation isn’t just about the material and content, however. You need to prepare your whole self. Take a moment to physically ground yourself and relax your body. “Do some shoulder rolls to make sure that your shoulders haven’t crept up to your ears,” says DeVore. “Unlock your knees, so that you're not tense in the pelvis and spine. Ground yourself. Feel your feet on the ground and practice standing in a strong, neutral, relaxed, grounded position.”
Your nerves affect your body, which is why you feel stiff and uncomfortable when you’re nervous. But that’s a two-way street. By making changes to your body, you can have a positive effect on your nerves.
In the moments before getting on stage, take a deep, controlled breath and focus on nothing but that breath. Be sure to exhale fully. “Focusing on the breath serves triple duty,” says DeVore. “It helps to calm the autonomic nervous system, it helps to bring you into the present because you're focusing on something very physical and tangible, and breath is the power source for voice. So, breath is the unifying link that helps with both nerves and vocal power.”
Breathe
Remember that long, focused breath you took right before you walked onstage? Keep it going. Steady breathing can keep you calm and focused, while improving the quality of your vocal power.
“Take breaths at the end of each sentence or at the end of each phrase,” says DeVore. “When we get nervous, we tend to make our breath very shal-low and quick. That makes our voice get high and tight and scrunchy. It makes us rush, and makes us even more anxious. Take the time to take a real breath each time you begin a new thought. It not only helps to slow you down, it helps to relax you. It also brings much more richness and fullness to your voice. If you feel tense, remember to exhale.”
Connect
Connecting with the audience, as DeVore tells it, is the piece that brings it all together. You’ve prepared. You’re remembering to breathe. Now, it’s time for your message to travel across the room and land firmly upon the waiting ears of an engaged audience. Depending on the circumstances and nature of your presentation, you might try making eye contact with the people in the room. Of course, you might not be able to do that, whether due to a lack of confidence or because bright stage lights make it impossible to see anything past the edge of the stage. “If it doesn't work to make literal connections with people, then imagine the face of somebody who loves you in the back of the room,” says DeVore. “And imagine that you're talking to that person. Visualizing a real true human that you know and that you love and feel safe and comfortable with, and talking to that person, brings out a lot of warmth and positivity in the way you present and speak.”
HeardAround
By Dan Shea
Kate DeVore is a theatre voice, speech, and dialect coach as well as a speech pathologist specializing in professional voice. She helps professionals (ranging from actors to executives) deliver their message in comfort and style. DeVore works one-on-one with clients both in-person and remotely and is avail-able for workshops and trainings of any size around the globe.
Kate DeVore, MA, CCC-SLP Voice, Speech and Communication Trainer Total Voice, Inc.
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 10 8/10/18 2:44 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 11870436_Experience.indd 1 24/06/17 3:53 am
The most important connection you make with the audience, however, is your voice. And it goes deeper than you think.
“The voice is the only part of a person that touches their audience physically,” DeVore explains. “Voice is sound waves that travel through the air through a series of vibrations. Those vibrations have an actual physical impact on the listener. That's how we hear things. If your voice doesn't reach them, your message is less likely to reach them.
Dan Shea is the content and publications manager for
Association Forum. He can be reached at
Total Voice, Inc., Chicago(773) [email protected]
DeVore’s book, The Voice Book: Caring For, Protecting, and Improving Your Voice, is available now on Amazon. For a direct link, visit the digital edition of FORUM.
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 11 8/10/18 2:44 PM
12 FORUM AUGUST 2018
HeardAround
Trade and professional associations represent just about any job field you can imagine. Doctors, lawyers, chaplains, flutists—inevitably, there are going to be professionals who work for an association in the role that their association represents. The American Bar Association has lawyers. Human Resources associations have HR departments. Even at Association Forum, we are a group of association professionals working for an association that represents association professionals (which is about as easy to explain to our friends as you think it is.)
For insight into the joys and challenges of performing a job func-tion at an association where the members are all engaged in the same type of work, we spoke with a few individuals about their experiences, including a vendor who was contracted by an as-sociation to do the very work of that organization.
Michael JohnsonCorporate Account ManagerStrategic Account Management Association
What unique challenges do you face being an account manager at the Strategic Account Management Association?
One of the unique challenges is also one of the best parts about working at SAMA. When dealing with strategic account manage-ment, there are so many roles involved in the support of the Strategic Account Manager and Strategic Account Program at each company we have as members. That unique access allows me to work with a wide range of individuals in a variety of roles. Learning how to work with all levels of an organization has helped me be a better account manager.
Do you feel like you are held to a higher standard due to your members being well-versed in your position?
I know that those individuals are usually the top echelon of talent in the account management world. While they are familiar with the role I have, I think the best strategic account managers know that they constantly need to learn and evolve to be aware of the current trends and best practices. That’s where I can help them. I believe that no matter your experience level, you can always learn from others. I have access to the other corporate member’s best practices and things they are doing to stay on top of their industries.
What’s the best part of working as an account manage at SAMA?
The stories that always come to mind are the in-person events that we host. There is a wide range of individuals from all over the world that I get to meet. Every interaction at our events is completely different from the one before.
How have you benefitted in your professional development by being a staff member at SAMA?
Every day I get to learn what the best companies and individu-als are doing to help their customers. Being exposed to that on a daily basis has really helped me in my role, as I am able to apply our teachings right back to the people I work with every day. Being part of SAMA is like getting a master’s degree in account management.
Adara BowenDirector, Brand Experience and MarketingAmerican Marketing Association
What unique challenges do you face being an Brand Experience and Marketing Director at the American Marketing Association?
There are both challenges and opportunities. There is often an as-sumption that the Global Support Center staff is full of marketers because we are the American Marketing Association. This leads to very high expectations from our volunteer leaders. On the flip side, our community members and volunteer leaders are a great resources when it comes to gaining insight, trying new approach-es, and extending reach. The more transparent our team is with our community leaders about what we are trying to achieve, the more willing they are to jump in and be an extension of our team. We have very loyal customers that just so happen to be savvy marketers!
Do you feel like you are held to a higher standard due to your members being well-versed in your position?
Absolutely, but I like it that way. Without challenge, individuals fail to grow.
How does being in marketing at AMA compare to other positions you’ve held in branding and marketing at different organizations?
We have more stakeholders—a lot more. Think boards, multiple councils, special interest groups, chapter leaders, student chap-ters, authors and contributors, editors, and members. All are very vested in the organization, and we value input from everyone. Any change we tackle requires a lot of stakeholder conversations.
What’s the best part of working in marketing at the AMA?
There are too many to pick just one, but I am very grateful for the cities I’ve been able to explore through the lens of local members.
My Job is Your Job What Happens When You Do the Occupation Your Association Represents?
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 12 8/10/18 2:44 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 13
Discover Opportunities. Reveal Possibilities.
Partner with us to take your organization to the next level. Visit connect2amc.com today!
Reno and Des Moines are two spots I wouldn’t have thought to visit on my own, but I loved my time there and would go back for a trip with friends or family.
How have you benefitted in your professional development by being a staff member at AMA?
Access to great training programs and an abundance of super smart marketers. I try to learn something from everyone.
Todd HeiserCo-Creative DirectorGensler
Led the re-design of the offices for the International Interior Design Association
How did the experience of designing for International Interior Design Association differ from other clients, from the creative process to the implementation process?
Designing the IIDA Headquarters created a unique ability to go further, take risks, and really make something that is exceptional. IIDA represents designers from around the world. We worked together to design a meaningful space that represents the diver-
sity of this group. Our sole desire was to create a space that was shared among this group and not owned by any single designer.
What unique benefits or challenges did you face doing interior design for an interior design association?
The experience of designing for IIDA was different because it was focused on creating something meaningful to represent all de-signers. We were working with a highly sophisticated client, which gave us the ability to go further, take risks, and really create an exceptional space. The whole process was centered around co-creation—which doesn’t always happen on every project, however IIDA truly understands the power of design and what it can do to transform spaces.
Anything else to share from the process?
Often when dealing with clients, they are not as knowledge-able of the design process. Partnering with IIDA was a different experience as they were highly educated in design. They knew the impact that good design can have. Designers, manufacturers, and dealers played an important part in the creative process. It resulted in a meaningful headquarters that was all about co-creation.
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 13 8/10/18 2:44 PM
14 FORUM AUGUST 2018
Addressing Member Discipline
This Law Review was written by Susan Feingold Carlson and edited by Jed Mandel, both of whom are founding members of Chicago Law Partners, LLC. CLP serves as the Association Forum’s general counsel.
Q: Our association is considering establish-
ing a program under which we would evaluate alleged ethical violations and, where appro-priate, take disciplinary action against our members. Can you suggest what to consider in structuring the program?
A:Every association's dis-ciplinary program must
include two elements: (i) stan-dards of conduct against which members will be assessed; and (ii) procedures that establish the manner in which the association will enforce those standards and protect members’ rights in the process.
The standards, or grounds for discipline, may range from the very specific to the more general. Some associations, for example, establish codes of ethics that specifically prohibit or otherwise restrict certain actions or behav-iors relating to the members’ pro-fession. Although the adoption of an ethical code is a perfectly legitimate activity for a trade or professional association, an asso-ciation nonetheless must develop the code in a manner that does not run afoul of state or federal law, particularly the federal an-titrust laws. For example, while an ethical code may prohibit false and deceptive advertising and other fraudulent practices, it may not include blanket restric-tions on advertising. Similarly, an association that wishes to adopt a code provision regarding expert testimony may require that the testimony be “truly expert and impartial,” but must exercise care in addressing matters relat-ing to the expert’s compensation. For instance, although a code should not prescribe or proscribe specific forms of payment (e.g., contingency or hourly fees), it
may state that the expert should not have an economic interest in the outcome of the contro-versy about which the member is providing testimony. The former could be deemed an unreason-able restraint of trade; the latter likely would be held to represent a reasonable restraint designed to avoid a conflict between the expert’s testimony and his or her personal interests.
Other associations elect to forego a code and rely only on more general grounds for discipline, such as “failure to comply with the association’s bylaws or other association rules and regulations,” and “immoral, dishonorable, or unprofessional conduct considered prejudicial to the best interests of the associa-tion.” Regardless of the option selected, an association should specify the grounds for discipline in its bylaws. Principles of as-sociation law provide that bylaws constitute an agreement between an association and its members, whereby the association provides its members with the rights and privileges of membership in return for the members’ agree-ment to abide by the associa-tion’s bylaws. Therefore, where an association’s bylaws set forth grounds for discipline, the asso-ciation may restrict or revoke an individual’s membership on the basis of a disciplinary violation.
The grounds for discipline represent only one of the two requirements of a properly structured disciplinary program. Association law further provides that an association member is entitled to “fair process” before the association restricts or revokes his or her membership. Thus, an association intending to pursue disciplinary action against its members also must set forth (or, at a minimum, ref-
erence) disciplinary procedures in its bylaws. Such procedures serve two purposes. First, they provide the association with an enforcement mechanism, which, if followed, reduces the associa-tion’s risk of potential liability. Second, and equally important, they protect the interests of any member who becomes the sub-ject of disciplinary action.
An association’s disciplinary procedures may call for manda-tory or discretionary review of complaints submitted against association members. A manda-tory program requires full review of each complaint submitted. In contrast, under a discretion-ary program, the association maintains the authority and procedures required to conduct disciplinary proceedings, but grants itself the flexibility to determine if and when to initiate any such action. Many asso-ciations prefer the discretionary approach because it: (i) allows the association to decline review of matters not appropriate for its consideration (e.g., commercial disputes among competitors; “personality” disputes; matters currently the subject of litigation or other proceedings); and (ii) avoids the requirement that every disciplinary matter be “put into the system” and affirmatively reviewed by the responsible committee. With a discretionary approach, however, an asso-ciation risks claims of disparate treatment and/or a lack of inter-est in important “self-policing” opportunities.
When adopting disciplin-ary procedures, an association also will need to decide, among other things, who may bring a complaint, how notice will be communicated to the affected member, who will review the alle-gations, the circumstances under
which a member is entitled to a hearing, how appeals will be addressed, and what forms of disciplinary action may be taken. Finally, it is important to under-stand that disciplinary action is reserved for an association’s members. Non-members have no membership privileges to be revoked.
Prior to embarking on a program to enforce ethical standards, an association should consider how such a program fits within its mission, membership, staff resources, finances, and culture. While such programs certainly promote positive values, even the “simplest” disciplin-ary procedures required for enforcement can become time consuming for both volunteers and staff. In addition, whenever it engages in disciplinary activity, an association incurs potential liability, particularly the potential for antitrust and defamation claims. Again, while such poten-tial liability can be minimized where a proper process has been established, is closely followed by staff, and monitored by legal counsel, those activities require the expenditure of human and fi-nancial resources. And, although such careful monitoring may minimize actual liability, there is, as always, no way for an as-sociation to immunize itself from the filing of a lawsuit.
No one alternative is best for every association. What is important is to determine the best course for your organization.
The answers provided here should
not be construed as legal advice or
a legal opinion. Consult a lawyer
concerning your specific situation or
legal questions.
LawReview
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 14 8/10/18 2:44 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 15
Together we’ve:
• Shared ideas• Advanced careers• Built lifelong connections• Reshaped the association management profession
It won’t be a celebration without you!
H O L I D AYSHOWCASEProduced by
®ANNIVERSARY
From Holiday Showcase, You Can Go Anywhere
#HS30 | #AssocForum
Celebrate 30 Years of Holiday Showcase with Us
Registration officially opens September 4, 2018.
Learn more at HolidayShowcase.org.
Share your Holiday Showcase experiences with us on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram.
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 15 8/10/18 2:44 PM
16 FORUM AUGUST 2018
BRAND: YOU Personal Branding for Success in Life and Business
With regard to personal branding, if you don’t remember anything else from this article, remember this: If you don’t establish your own personal brand someone else will do it for you and WHEN they do, it will never be as favorable to you as if you had established it for yourself.
There is a famous Rolling Stones song that says: “You can't always get what you want but if you try sometimes, you find you get what you need.” And that is true with your personal brand. Many people think of a personal brand as akin to one’s reputation but nothing could be further from the truth. Your reputation is something that is placed upon you, usually by individuals who have an outsider’s perspective on how you behave. Sure, they might be able to observe some aspects of your behavior but they generally aren’t close enough to you to make the extrapo-lation about you in a total sense.
When it comes to your personal brand, we are not talking about reputations because they come and go. The story I like to relate regarding one’s reputation has to do with my days as a basket-ball player a few years (okay, many years ago). Back then I had a reputation as a pretty decent basketball player but if you saw me on the court these days you’d quickly discover that the skills that gave me that reputation are long gone.
Personal Branding is not and must never be about one’s reputation. It has to be about one’s character. I believe that if you asked the individuals that I competed against many years ago on the basketball court if I possessed a high level of moral character and courage and if I still possess those attributes today, the answer would be an unequivocal "yes." Reputations come and go and they are placed upon you by others. Your character, however, stands the test of time and is all about the service you provide to others and what you demand of yourself and execute on a consistent and sustained basis. In that way it can be said that your personal brand makes
a demand only upon you and it requires you to always give your best effort in whatever endeavor you undertake.
Your personal brand is an invitation to oth-ers. More often than not, if they see you giving your best effort and pursuing excellence then they will want to engage with you. Now, here’s the rub: You cannot always allow those who may want to be associated with your personal brand to do so. This is because they may not have the same reasons or intentionality in want-ing to be a part of your personal brand that you had as you worked to establish it. Your personal brand should be viewed as a construction site. Because at the same time you are trying to build your personal brand, there will always be those who are trying to tear it down. Never allow your personal brand to rest on past achievements but continue to press forward.
Your personal brand must always convey the following three essential elements:
1. Standards: Those things that denote excel-lence
2. Values: Closely held beliefs that guide behav-ior…consistently
3. Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP): What makes you the person you are and why should people care?
Standards and values are fairly clear and rec-ognizable concepts, but consider the third ele-ment: Your Unique Value Proposition. If I were to ask you what makes you the person you are and why anyone should care, you might respond with traits such as being hard working, reliable, a self-starter and other such descriptors. The real-ity is that the answer to that question goes much deeper than the surface level qualities that many people share.
The short answer of what makes up your UVP is that there is no one else like you and as such, your experiences provide you with a unique opportunity to view and respond to situa-
The idea of personal branding comes from the concept of branding which gained mo-mentum in the 1960s as a way to distinguish a product or manufacturer as distinct and recognizable. Given the rise we’ve seen in technology and the impact of globalization, it was natural that such a concept would expand its scope and be applied to individuals.
By Julius E. Rhodes, SPHR
HeardAround
Julius E. Rhodes, SPHR Vice President, Human Resources American Osteopathic Association
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 16 8/10/18 2:44 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 17
MEET IN THE CENTER OF IT ALL.Greensboro offers the perfect combination of small town charm and big city appeal. See what’s new in Greensboro! You will be surprised by all it has to offer. visitgreensboronc.com
tions like no one else can because…wait for it…there is no one else like you. As you think about developing your personal brand, I urge you to remember that it’s never about you. Rather it’s about what you can and must do to be of service to others.
Julius E. Rhodes, SPHR, is the vice president of human
resources for the American Osteopathic Association. He is also
the founder and principal of the mpr group (www.mprgroup.info)
and the author of the book and workbook BRAND: YOU Personal
Branding for Success in Life and Business. He was the keynote speaker for the Association Forum’s SIG Summit in March 2018 where he addressed the topic of resiliency and emotion-al intelligence. He can be reached at [email protected], on
twitter: @jerhodes42 or 773.548.8037.
“If you don’t establish your own personal brand someone else will do it for you and WHEN they do, it will never be as favorable to you as if you had established it for yourself.”
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 17 8/10/18 2:44 PM
18 FORUM AUGUST 2018
An Action Plan for Prevention: The Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute
With a combination of mission-driven fundraising, an annual conference, strong volunteer leadership and concentration on action plans, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute (CGTI) is an association.
In reality, CGTI is an award-winning, state-wide youth leadership conference that brings together teens from Illinois to encourage healthy lifestyles, leadership and living alcohol, tobacco and drug-free.
“Our goal is to create a positive environment for stu-dents,” says Ashley Webb, director of strategic initiatives for CGTI. “We’re working to empower youth with the knowledge and skills to live a healthy, positive lifestyle and we hope to do that with the different workshops and activities we offer throughout the week.”
CGTI, currently in its 44th year, is sponsored by the Illi-nois Association for Behavioral Health (IABH), an 501(c)(3) organization representing addiction and mental illness pre-vention, treatment and recovery agencies, staff, consumers, affiliated organizations and corporations. It is also partially sponsored by a grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services. The program was originally known as the Illinois Teen Institute. It changed its name in 2012 through a part-nership with the Cebrin Goodman Center, created by Lillian and Larry Goodman in memory of their granddaughter who
lost her battle with drug addiction. “Over 40 years ago the IABH board of directors deter-
mined that it was an important part of our mission to develop the next generation of leaders and prevent the devastating effects of addiction,” says Sara Howe, CEO of the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health and an alumnus of the program. “Because of this strategic decision, the Association developed what is now the longest-running teen institute in the country.”
The conference, held annually in July, provides the attend-ees with the opportunity and guidance to create a tailored Community Action Plan, working off the Strategic Preven-tion Framework provided by the organization. The youth, along with their adult mentors, take these plans back to their schools and community and utilize it to enact positive change. The organization checks with the adult mentor on a monthly or quarterly basis. In January, CGTI holds a smaller, two-day conference to assess and re-evaluate the Community Action Plan. At the 2018 conference, there were 516 youth, 90 volunteers and 44 adult mentors that participated.
In addition to the action plans and the strategic guidance, those who attend CGTI also walk away with the support of their peers and important connections with new, like-minded friends. “It's unbelievable how close these youths get in five
Associations are uniquely positioned to be catalysts for good. In this column, we look to showcase the good work being done by associations through philanthropy, social programs and charitable acts.
By Dan Shea
HeardAround
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 18 8/10/18 2:44 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 19
BMCVB.com
NO BOUNDARIES MEANS:
• Numerous venue options for meetings of any size
• Multi-use arena with over 200,000 sq. ft. of meeting and exhibit hall space
• 3,500 sleeping rooms within 15 minutes of the airport
LEAVE BOUNDARIES BEHIND AND CONTACT US TODAY.
days,” says Webb. “They come on Sunday and you can tell they're nervous. Some of them are not really sure why they're there or what they're doing. By Thursday, they're crying, and they don't want to leave. They have formed lifelong friend-ships. A lot of them have even said the reason they keep coming back is because of the bonds that they've made with other people who are trying to live a healthy lifestyle.”
Behind the camaraderie and leadership development that CGTI provides for youth is an important and crucial mission. “As we look at today’s critical issue of the escalating opioid crisis, prevention is an urgent need," says Howe. "The cost of addiction, both human and fiscal, implore us to ensure we are preventing this illness before it begins. The research in this area is very clear, the longer we can keep a youth from picking up their first drink, the less likely they are to become an alcoholic or an addict.”
Fundraising efforts are powered by the volunteers who dedicate their time and energy to making CGTI happen, many
of whom are previous attendees of the conference and vol-unteer as a way to stay involved. These individuals run peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns to raise money to cover the cost of their rooms, meals and materials, as well as speaker fees and room rentals. Some go above and beyond to provide scholarships to youth attendees. CGTI, through year-round fundraising efforts led by Webb, aims to pay for transpor-tation for the attendees, in addition to writing grants and pursuing sponsors to offset various costs associated with the conference.
To learn more about the Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute and to donate to this worthy cause, visit www.cg-ti.org.
Dan Shea is the content and publications manager for Association Forum. He can
be reached at [email protected].
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 19 8/10/18 2:44 PM
20 FORUM AUGUST 2018
InTheSpotlight
Thought Leadership: More Than a Buzzword
This is where a thought leadership strategy can help determine how and what to communicate to members. Thought leadership, while part of overall communications, differs from traditional marketing because it is formulated to deliver information that helps the member first rather than promoting the association. The content is inherently more compelling to your community because it offers built-in authority, a clear per-spective, and inherent trustworthiness.
A thought leadership strategy leverages exist-ing content from the association’s website, email archives, newsletters, reports, journals and other publications, media releases, and elsewhere. It is a consistent, quality form of content market-ing which supports all other aspects of mar-keting and, specifically, the digital marketing strategy. It can assist search engine optimization (SEO) by increasing the association footprint on the web and helps to define the ecosystem and subject expertise or domain authority for the association. Thought leadership offers the oppor-tunity to build relationships with other industries or partners. Finally, it increases the value propo-sition for the community.
What is Thought Leadership?
Thought leaders are often viewed as informed opinion leaders and the go-to people in their field of expertise. They attract dedicated groups of friends, fans, and followers. Yet thought lead-ership can be created at an organizational level. Associations offer their members knowledge and experience through many formats. Deep industry knowledge and access to experts allows associa-tions to publish unique insights and promote understanding that other individuals or organiza-tions lack.
By turning that expertise and access into thought leadership, an association becomes a trusted source. At its core, thought leadership is a form of content marketing where talent,
experience, and passion inside the community are tapped to answer the biggest questions on the minds of your target audience on a particular topic. Effective thought leadership is an excel-lent addition to any marketing strategy because it can position the association at the forefront of big ideas or as the leader of a movement.
Characteristics of Thought Leadership
Thought leadership offers a point of view which is compelling, industry-specific and definitive. Some other aspects of thought leadership are:
• Authentic• Authoritative • Clarifying• Cutting-edge• Honest• Influential• Innovative• Inspirational • Passionate• Surprising• Targeted• Trustworthiness
Forms of Thought Leadership
In creating thought leadership, an association may question where to start or what thought leadership pieces can look like. Thought leader-ship can improve the current state of members or seek to advance the industry. This list offers a foundation for creating compelling thought leadership.
Current situation Thought Leadership
1. Answers to your members’ most significant questions Answers questions that preoccupy the target market including:• Create method, process, platforms, guide-
lines best practices, or blueprints to follow • Lessons learned or first-hand knowledge
Your members have unlimited sources of knowledge at their fingertips. Yet the average person does not have the mental capacity to utilize all this information to the full potential. Your members may find themselves drowning in a sea of information challenged to deci-pher it all and find the most valuable information.
By Sue Tinnish, PhD
Sue Tinnish is a sea-soned professional with a diverse background in business and spe-cific skills in leadership, formulating strategy, managing change, building teams, and delivering on strategic and tactical projects. She has worked in consulting, higher edu-cation (Dean at Kendall College), and corpo-rate environments and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events. Sue earned her Ph.D. from Benedic-tine University in Lisle, Illinois. She holds an M.B.A. with a con-centration in finance and marketing from University of Chicago's Booth School and a B.S. in communication studies from Northwest-ern University.
Sue Tinnish, Ph.D.
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 20 8/10/18 2:44 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 21
• Interviews with members, partners, supply chain partners, industry experts or non-members
2. Comment on industry influences including:• Standards or protocols• Trends• Laws or regulations • Patterns caused by external or market
dynamics• Macro forces from the broader economy
3. Observe and connect information from mul-tiple sources:• Predict trends• Curative content from other sources• Distill technical information to help mem-
bers/the public understand the industry better
4. Advance larger campaigns• Provide public information using non-
technical industry terminology • Build support for public policy issues
5. Interpret or extrapolate knowledge• Publish industry research• Debate or promote controversial discus-
sions happening within the industry
Thought Leadership Furthering the Industry
1. Undertake unsolved/unresolved problems • Create evolutionary advancements• Create revolutionary advancements
2. Develop new methodologies
3. Develop industry predictions
Making Thought Leadership Work
It is not necessary to serve as a thought leader on every topic. The secret is creating a niche for your association’s thought leadership. Establish-ing that niche requires realistically assessing any competitive advantage. Where can the associa-tion provide differentiated thought leadership—is it in the form of newer, better or in-depth con-tent? Or does the point of differentiation rely on combining different information, packaging insider insights, or publishing counterintuitive information? The most important aspect is to provide unique viewpoints that members cannot easily find from other sources.
Discover a potential niche by exploring what members want to know. Investigate other social media, magazines, newsletters, online forums, and message boards to discover discussion top-
ics and questions the target member is asking. Use findings as a foundation upon which to develop thought leadership for your association.
Follow four principles to make thought lead-ership work effectively and easily within the association:
Repurpose existing content: Repurpose content to create multiple thought leadership pieces—varying thought leadership in length, format, and channel. Think of all content as comprised of thought leadership components or modules. Chunking content creates thought leadership that is scalable and efficient. For example, whitepapers or longer articles can be broken down into smaller pieces that can be posted on blogs or other social media mediums. Con-sider live streaming, recording or repackaging live events into video content. Blog posts can be repurposed into an infographic. Another way to repurpose content is to reevaluate the tar-get audience. Consider how thought leadership pieces can reach different levels of the organiza-tion (downstream) or reach across member orga-nizations (cross-functional).
Use an omnichannel approach: Thought leader-ship should be posted on multiple channels your audience likes to consume. The omnichannel approach utilizes different formats and differ-ent channels so each member can retrieve the information. Formats include interviews, various print pieces (case studies, white papers), blog posts, podcasts, video, events, and infographics. Channels include the association’s social media, blogs, publications (newsletters, journals) and external (outside the association) networks. Build a reputation as a thought leader by allowing other organizations to publish your thought lead-ership. Using an omnichannel approach maxi-mizes the thought leadership approach reach.
Match format to channel: As it is desirable to publish thought leadership on multiple chan-nels in multiple formats, each piece can convey information differently. An informal tone is more appropriate for many channels. It can be desir-able to convey personality in thought leadership. Tools that can change up thought leadership and allow repurposing content across formats and channel include visual design, humor, use of numerous examples, facts and quotes. Video is overtaking written content; do not neglect this format for thought leadership.
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 21 8/10/18 2:44 PM
Our CommunityPartner with us today.
Your Mission
Why should you consider a partnership with us?
1. Chicago is the nation’s second largest association city and the #1 healthcare association center.2. Chicago associations spend big bucks, with total meeting expenditures of over $681,000,000
(excluding travel).3. Our members are actively looking for suppliers and they collaborate, support, and refer those who
are active with Association Forum.
Opportunities include:• Women’s Executive Forum• SmartTech• Welcoming Environment Summit• Online Learning• Advertising• Networking Events• CEOnly Programs• Holiday Showcase
Let’s get a conversation started! To learn more about how we can work together, please contact our business development team. We look forward to working with you!
PARTNERSPOSSIBLE
Make it
A S S O C I A T I O N F O R U M ’ S
Ken Fischang, Business Development [email protected], West Coast, International
Katie Callahan-Giobbi, [email protected]
Jim Hawarden, Business Development [email protected], Southeast, East Coast
Phyllis Scott, Senior Manager, Business [email protected]
22 FORUM AUGUST 2018
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 22 8/10/18 2:44 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 23
Leverage all thought leader sources: Thought leadership can be sourced from guest bloggers, staff, industry experts, members, suppliers, supply chain partners, other partners, and non-members. Each can contribute their own ideas about the industry. Relying on members can turn them into ambassadors or champions. Leverage resources to include all sources ensures that the association is not relying totally on staff for content creation. Also, be creative about finding sources of inspiration and recognize potential opportunities for the industry.
What are the Benefits of Thought Leadership?
The benefits of thought leadership affect the association directly and the members.
Benefits for the association
Build your reputation: Thought leadership pro-vides exposure for ideas both inside and outside your association. This exposure promotes your brand to members but also reaches journalists, analysts, researchers, government officials, regu-lators, supply chain member, the general indus-try, and target audience (future members). When reaching beyond membership through thought leadership, the association increase its strategic visibility.
Engage with members and non-members: Thought leadership creates a conversation between the association and target audience. This creates a more personal face to the associa-tion allowing people to connect on a more per-sonal level. Thought leadership communicates to the community that the association understands and cares about their issues.
Build trust: Thought leadership builds trust and loyalty through both emotional and rational appeals. Serving as a trusted source helps estab-lish the association as a go-to source.
Advances the industry: Thought leadership helps answer questions and provide solutions to cur-rent problems. Through thought leadership, associations harness innovation, status, author-ity, and scale to implement real progress and
make sustainable, lasting change.
Builds value proposition – Thought leadership solidifies branding when the target audience sees how the association can advance careers, explore new opportunities, learn more about their profession, and be the voice speaking to relevant issues. Thought leadership’s unique capabili-ties to be an authority and serve as a repository of knowledge not found elsewhere else creates value for members.
Benefits for the members
Thought leadership that impacts the association also benefits members. Members benefit from engagement with the association, access to a trusted, curated source of information, expo-sure to industry experts and their insight, and industry advancement. These benefits encapsu-late into one resounding reason for joining an association: Supporting members’ professional development and enriching the career lives of your members.
In conclusion, thought leadership offers dif-ferent benefits from other forms of marketing. A thought leadership strategy cannot be achieved through a single article, social media post or networking event. Thought leadership takes time to establish, but once established it has a longer shelf-life than other marketing. Great content can last (often) forever, as it is found via search engines, accessed and read beyond its original publication date. Thought leader-ship can increase the vitality of the website and improve SEO ranks. In addition, thought leader-ship moves and inspires with innovative ideas; turn ideas into reality, and creates change across an entire industry or ecosystem. Thought leader-ship should be an integral part of your overall marketing and digital marketing strategy to real-ize these benefits and support your fundamental value proposition to members.
Sue Tinnish can be reached at 847-404-7325 or
“Thought leadership, while part of overall communications, differs from traditional marketing because it is formulated to deliver information that helps the member first rather than promoting the association. The content is inherently more compelling to your community because it offers built-in au-thority, a clear perspective, and inherent trustworthiness.”
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 23 8/10/18 2:44 PM
10 South Riverside Plaza | Suite 800 | Chicago IL 60606-3101 | T 312.924.7000 F 312.924.7100 | associationforum.org
Looking for the perfect place to hold your next meeting? We have it!
Contact Phyllis Scott for details at 312.924.7033 or [email protected]
Discounted rates for Association Forum members!
Room max varies by setup. Call for details.
What’s included:• All room rentals come with Wifi, overhead projector or large-screen monitor, coffee, tea, filtered
water, white boards, easels and power strips. A separate charge applies for flip chart paper.• Catering is an extra charge through our partnership with Blue Plate Catering.• Setup and troubleshooting (if required)• Management of guest registration with building security
Conference & Room Rentals
Or visit associationforum.org/browse/conferencecenterrental
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 24 8/10/18 2:44 PM
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 25 8/10/18 2:44 PM
CaseInPoint
26 FORUM AUGUST 2018
By Matthew S. Switzer
RFP Should Stand for “Risks Full Productivity”
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 20 8/10/18 2:43 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 27
My background is in agency work, so I’m familiar with the RFP process and the effort it takes to put together a pitch and trust me, there was no greater time suck than a new business pitch. In addition, my association recently revamped their website which put me squarely on the other side of the table.
I remember the challenge of learning as much about a client as possible to make an RFP response authentic. I also remember reading through RFP responses we received thinking, “They just don’t get us.”
Largely, the audience reading this article will be on the client-side of a tech RFP process. And frank-ly, in my research for this article, it seems most published content on the subject approached it from the client side. Candidly, that’s the easy part. There are plenty of antiquated websites that need a refresh. There are ample print publications seeking to make a greater digital splash. So, I thought I’d approach the topic from the opposite side. How do you make the most of your RFP process by making thing easier on the *gasp* vendor?
I’ve Looked at Love from Both Sides Now Thankfully, gone are the days of “one size fits all” RFP responses. Most tech and creative profession-als I spoke with referred to having a formalized RFP response process, but they personalize all projects to their respective clients.
“Having and offering flexibility allows us to present a range of solutions to the client, at a range of price points. Once we learn more about the project, focus the needs of the client, and under-stand the scope and vision of the project, we go back to the drawing board and build our respective proposal,” said Ryan Beshel, founder and creative director, VIIVX Group.
“We use lots of past project data to write all of our proposals from scratch. Each new project is a bit different,” said Blair Hannah, founder and managing partner, Concentric Design.
Beshel agreed. “I find that, these days ‘custom services’ is a given, as each project is different and choices for appropriate firms are readily available. You have to think a few layers ahead for your client and anticipate solutions that will benefit their business.”
You! You’re Making Me Crazy! What Can I Do? Have you ever been curious about the biggest frustrations that digital agencies have when going through the RFP process? Maybe not, but you should!
Just how much information is too much information? According to Beshel, he can never have too much. “[One of our biggest challenges is] transparency. On the client side, you can’t always be as transparent as you might like or are able to, because of proprietary information or protected intellectual property, etc. Maintaining transparency can be the hardest part of the game, as each busi-ness (especially small businesses) change at a very rapid rate, and can have multiple humans relaying internal information.”
And that information sharing can make or break an RFP. These vendors are attempting to not only learn as much about your association, its members, and the challenge you’re facing, and then laying that over myriad services they may wish to recom-mend to you.
“Often, the biggest challenge was coalescing the background information (situation, landscape, problem to be solved, etc.) into a streamlined, not-to-verbose opening that provided the prospective partner enough information without going over-
o offense, but associations aren’t generally known for being on the cutting edge. Don’t @ me, but I also understand why this is true. It doesn’t mean association professionals aren’t aware of the bleed-
ing edge; it’s just more of a challenge to get there when decisions may require board approval, leadership buy-in, etc. Don’t worry—there’s hope.
N
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 21 8/10/18 2:43 PM
CaseInPoint
28 FORUM AUGUST 2018
board, or solving it for them!” said Colleen Phalen, director of marketing services, Delta Vacations.
The Bangles said it best… “Time, time, time. See what’s become of me...”
“Expecting to do this through a few phone calls before turning in a proposal—which is commonly the case with an RFP scenario—is a lose-lose situ-ation with all parties extending resources that could be more efficiently spent in other ways,” said Tim Frick, principal, Mightybytes.
So what should you do?
Cha-cha-cha-cha Changes – What Needs to Change about the RFP ProcessThis should come as no surprise, but everyone I spoke to believes that the RFP process as it used to stand needs to change. There are no one-size fits all or cookie cutter approaches to marketing challenges, so why should RFPs be the same?
“Our RFP process is incredibly personal, and our services are truly broad, because of our unique past experiences as a team. We feel that offering heavy upfront client-focused attention is what begins a strong relationship, so our agency might grow to become a true extension of their team and brand. Try mapping THAT in a spreadsheet!” said Beshel.
While I hate the phrase, “thinking outside the box” should be something all RFP senders keep in the backs of their head. You may think you know what you want, but you also aren’t the experts in the field. “Outside of an RFP, we usually engage with clients in a more iterative, free-flowing way. We often recommend a platform or service the client wasn’t even considering! An RFP is much more
one-sided, so we don’t get as good of an under-standing of the “why” behind the needs nor do we get an opportunity to pitch solutions that might be a better fit,” said Hannah.
The next change is one I’m guilty of personally (eek!)—even in the last few months. When you’re seeing services, have an idea of how much you have to spend. Tim Frick says, “If you’re inexperi-enced and unsure what your project should cost, that’s understandable. However, your organization has an annual budget and most likely your project exists as a line item somewhere in that budget. Even if it was an unplanned project, the company is pulling money from somewhere to fund your proj-ect. Do your prospective vendors a favor and share the budget numbers with them early in the process or right up front.”
What else should you be considering in the process?
I Really, Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Like You There is one intangible that’s difficult to quantita-tively measure, and that’s interpersonal chemistry. Speaking from experience, one of the main reasons why we selected our most recent tech vendor is because of the comfort we felt working with the core team. Long story short, it’s important that you like the people you’re going to work with.
You need to establish trust, build report, and perhaps most importantly, be able to disagree and debate. In my opinion, nothing good ever was cre-ated in a conflict-free environment. Ideas should be challenged. Creative should be critiqued.
Beshel agrees. “You can’t do a bad deal with a good person. It may sound cliché or mushy, but: I have to like you and I have to believe in what you
“Our RFP process is incredibly personal, and our services are truly broad, because of our unique past experiences as a team. We feel that offering heavy upfront client-focused attention is what begins a strong relationship, so our agency might grow to become a true extension of their team and brand. Try map-ping THAT in a spreadsheet!”
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 22 8/10/18 2:43 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 29
have created. I can spot doubt and mystery and shadiness from a mile away – because I can FEEL it.”
But Why Tho? One of my favorite memes, and one that applies in the workspace them most, is “Buy Why Tho.” If you’re not familiar with it, Google it, save it, print it, whatever you have to do to remember it. It should guide your day-to-day activities and operations. My colleague loves to say, “just because it’s always been done, doesn’t mean we should keep doing it.” And guess what? It applies to the RFP process to!
Some firms are foregoing the RFP process en-tirely. “Once we made the decision to cut down on RFPs, billing is up, project overages are down, and we’re not wasting time on proposals we have very little chance of winning. Most importantly, clients are happy. They’re getting quality work at a fair price. Here’s what we have learned along the way,” said Frick.
Frick continued, “the majority of businesses and nonprofits are still stuck in an outdated mind-set that often goes against the best interests of all involved parties: In order to successfully execute a long and complicated project we need tons of documentation up front.”
Pamela Meyer, author of The Agility Shift: Creating Agile and Effective Leaders, Teams, and Organizations said “The illusion is that the RFPs improve efficiency, when in reality it creates a cum-bersome process that actually constrains all parties’ ability to make new discoveries and adapt along the way. Tied to a plan, organizations actually cut themselves off from the most important cost-saving strategy of all, continuous learning and innovation.”
So Here’s What You Should DoWhen you put out an RFP, you are in power. While your digital agency is the purveyor of the final product, you are the captain of the ship. And when you’re the boss, you do things on your time. But take into account some thoughts on how you can make the process go more smoothly.
“Consider hiring vendors based on their ex-perience and qualifications instead of asking for extensive project and cost details up front. Be sure the people you talk to are committed to collabora-
tion, have a longstanding track record of successful projects, and can execute jobs similar to yours. If you have a desired budget, be upfront about that. If both parties are working toward shared goals with a common understanding, haggling over features and functions becomes far less critical. Just be sure not to over-plan because learning is continuous, so things will always change. Knowing that going in will result in a much more successful project,” said Frick. “Look for a problem solver instead of a product pusher,” said Hannah. “We fancy ourselves as the former. We ask lots of questions and push back on requirements in an effort to get our clients solu-tions they’re truly happy with.”
Matthew S. Switzer is the director of marketing and commu-
nications at Turnaround Management Association. He can be
reached at [email protected].
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 23 8/10/18 2:43 PM
30 FORUM AUGUST 2018
BigPictureAssociationFocus
By Julia Lee with contributions
from E. Ruth White
The AMAZON Quandary
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 24 8/10/18 2:43 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 31
The Pros and ConsSome concerns about selling on Amazon are universal to all publishers and content developers, and some are specific to member-based associations, including:
• You’ve already invested in developing and maintaining an ecommerce site.
• You can’t control pricing on Amazon and Amazon may undercut your member pricing.
• One of your member benefits may be special pricing on products and distributing through Amazon could destroy the exclusivity of that member pricing.
• Your members may be annoyed if products are cheaper on Amazon than through their association and question the value of their membership.
• You may be giving your members one less reason to visit your association website if they order through Amazon.
• You may not make enough profit on sales as you’ll have to give Amazon a cut.
• For certain programs, Amazon doesn’t share purchase his-tory names and addresses, so you’ll lose the opportunity to analyze sales, build a direct marketing contact list, and create cross sales programs.
• Selling on Amazon is complicated and you might not have the staff to manage it.
Here are some other key considerations:
• Are your members using AmazonBusiness to purchase supplies?
• Are most of your members already Prime members?
• Is your content already being sold by other vendors on Amazon, in new or used condition?
• Do you have secondary audiences who might find and buy your products on Amazon?
The answer is probably yes. Amazon has an estimated 300 million customers, 100 million Prime members, and 5 mil-lion vendors. Prime added more new members in 2017 than
in previous years. According to CNBC’s All-America Economic Survey“76 percent of US online consumers shop on Amazon most of the time, and they value free shipping the most when they shop online. Of Americans who do a lot or a fair amount of shopping online, 62 percent make $100,000 or more.”
Chances are, just like you, your members are already shopping on Amazon—and so are your non-members. Con-sider meeting them where they already shop. You can control your product positioning instead of ceding to other sellers and expand your reach outside your existing customer base.
Evaluate the Models The two main selling programs which you should consider are Advantage and Seller Central. The major differences are related to pricing and fulfillment. Both programs require online account set up, a business log in with tax ID, and banking information.
In both models, requirements include:
• Setting up all your products with basic metadata such as title, ISBN, price, description, keywords, and an image.
• Daily access to the corporate Amazon account and the ability to confirm purchase orders within 24-48 hours of issue.
• Compliance with product and carton labeling and shipping requirements.
• All purchase orders have delivery windows of 2-7 days—based on the location of your warehouse or product cate-gory—from the date the purchase order was issued.
To learn about Amazon’s selling models, click on “sell on Amazon” in their footer, or Google “Amazon Advantage” or “Amazon Seller Central”
Amazon Advantage Amazon Advantage is a self-service consignment program and is designed to work without the need for a regular contact or category buyer at Amazon. You must first read, agree to, and comply with the Membership Agreement and the Instructions & Rules for Advantage. There are no editing these terms so
ne of the biggest questions facing associations with publishing pro-grams is whether or not they should sell their branded and devel-oped content (publications, videos, training materials, brochures,
standards, white papers and eBooks) on Amazon.
OThe AMAZON Quandary
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 25 8/10/18 2:43 PM
32 FORUM AUGUST 2018
BigPictureAssociationFocus
you may need to research and address any internal legal review policies and procedures your association has in place pertaining legal agreements. Next you submit an Advantage application online and enroll at least one item. Professional publishers may also apply for Advantage Professional, which offers better terms. Books, DVDs, and CDs qualify for Advan-tage Professional if they are technical, educational, or med-ical in nature, or high-priced technical or professional titles, indicated by a retail price of at least $35 per unit. Costs to participate in Advantage include a $99 annual program fee, plus you must pay to ship inventory to Amazon.
In the Advantage program, your products will appear as “in stock” and will be identified as “Prime” enabled. Ama-zon reserves the right to control the retail price, which can fluctuate day to day as they match other online pricing or implement discounting. However, Amazon pays you based on your set retail price, taking a 55 percent discount, and remits 45 percent of the retail price back to you. If Amazon sells below your retail price, the customer discount comes out of Amazon’s percentage. Amazon also handles the shipments to customers and any returns from customers.
When someone wants to purchase your product through Amazon, Amazon will post this purchase order request on the Advantage website and notify you via email of the new order. You must log into the Advantage website and confirm the purchase order within 24-48 hours. The order has a delivery window of 2-7 days—based on the location of your ware-house—from the purchase order date and you must comply with all label and shipment requirements.
Working with a warehouse that has experience fulfilling orders for Amazon can be a key component for success and staying in compliance with Amazon’s carton labeling and shipping requirements. Otherwise you may get chargebacks for violations for mislabeled cartons or late shipments, poten-tially derailing your profit margins. You can provide your ware-house staff with limited access to your Amazon Advantage management account, so the warehouse can print order-spe-cific labels and add Advance Shipping Notification informa-tion to each order.
Since Advantage is a consignment program, Amazon pays you for the inventory after it has been purchased and shipped to the Amazon.com customer. You do not submit invoices; Amazon pays on a monthly basis, 30 days after the end of the month in which the unit is sold. This requires you work closely in collaboration with your own accounts receivable team in order to track and reconcile all payments and inven-tory. Meet with your accounting department and work out as many details as possibly before you ship your first order.
The benefits of Advantage:
• Your products will be categorized as “Prime” and “in stock” and many customers filter for Prime-only products.
• Amazon handles all customer fulfillment issues and pro-vides unit sales reporting (no customer data).
• You may participate in co-op marketing programs to expand the exposure of your products.
If you sell enough volume through Advantage, as an Ama-zon Vendor, you may be invited to join Vendor Central. Vendor Central is a standard distribution model where Amazon pur-chases inventory from you on a returnable basis, pays for the inventory at the time of the shipment, and fulfills directly to customers. Your accounting department will find this program much easier to reconcile as there will be a corresponding pay-ment against shipped inventory.
Seller CentralIn the second model, Seller Central, as a vendor you are con-sidered a marketplace or third-party seller. This program is for content providers that expect to ship more than 40 items per month and the monthly subscription fee is $39.99 plus a per-item selling fees, which vary by category. There are two options in this program to fulfill orders from Amazon’s cus-tomers: you can handle the shipping, customer service, and returns for each individual order, or you can enroll in Fulfilled by Amazon or “FBA” program and let Amazon handle fulfill-ment.
As with Advantage, purchase orders are posted on the Seller Central website and you are notified via email when there is a new purchase order. You must log into the Seller Central website to confirm purchase orders, and if you are handling fulfillment, you must enter the ship date, shipping method including the carrier information, and tracking num-ber. After the shipment is confirmed, Amazon charges the buyer and credits you for the purchase.
If you chose to directly fulfill orders, Amazon will calcu-late and pay for the shipment based on the product category and shipping service selected by the buyer. Amazon passes these fees on to you. Amazon rate schedules are published online and start at $3.99 for domestic standard. If you enroll in the FBA program and Amazon handles fulfillment, they charge you for each shipment, based on weight, starting at $2.41 per package for a small carton that weighs one pound or less.
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 26 8/10/18 2:43 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 33
The benefits of Seller Central:
• Access to customer data based on the shipments (they state that it is strictly prohibited to remarket to Amazon’s customers).
• Pricing control, by setting a minimum and maximum price for each product.
Marketing Considerations If you want to work with Amazon:
Educate yourself as much as possible. Ask other publish-ers for recommendations and best practices. Review Ama-zon’s online tutorials, webinars, and blogs. Contact Amazon via email or request a phone call to address questions; they reply quickly. Google your questions; many companies post their recommendations and analysis and can help you decide on the best model.
Make sure you have staff in place to handle account management tasks including setting up, maintaining, and updating your product listings; confirming orders in Amazon’s system; submitting orders in your system; working with your warehouse to make sure orders ship on a timely basis; com-municating with Amazon about any problems or questions; collaborating with your finance department to make sure pay-ments are applied correctly; developing marketing programs to drive discoverability and increase sales.
Do a financial assessment. Create a spreadsheet listing your products and identify your cost of goods for each prod-uct. Add a column for variable Amazon fees like shipping. Talk to your fulfillment house and include any additional charges they might have for handling Amazon orders and carton labeling. Incorporate into your assessment either the 55 percent cut Amazon takes for the Advantage program or the per item sales fee—based on category—for Seller Central. Also, if you’re considering Seller Central and want Amazon to fulfill, you’ll need a column in your spreadsheet for those fees. Don’t forget your annual fee of either $99/year (Advantage) or $39.95 month (Seller Central). Last, estimate staff time—maybe an hour a day to start—and spread those expenses across your products. Remove from your list any products that don’t have a positive profit margin.
What is hard to project accurately in a financial assess-ment is whether sales through Amazon will expand your market and increase revenues and/or cannibalize a certain amount of your current sales. Plus, it’s difficult to identify and mathematically weight the impact of member-driven pric-ing as part of your association’s benefit package.
Dip your toe in and test. Pick one product, do your due diligence and jump into the Advantage program. Set a time limit, such as three or six months, to assess your results. Amazon does not make it hard to shut down your program.
If you don’t want to sell on Amazon, consider these tactics to expand sales of print and digital content:
• Invest in ongoing updates and improvements to your ecommerce site so you can compete with consumer expectations.
• Offer free shipping on your ecommerce site.• Communicate with your members—make sure they under-
stand the value of their member discounts and special offers. Don’t assume they already know!
• Regularly monitor your products on Amazon to develop an understanding of how other vendors are selling your products and monitor your competition to see if they are currently selling on Amazon.
• Check out AmazonBusiness to see if they are stocking products related to your industry that will bring your mem-ber base to their site.
• Hire a sales manager to expand domestic and interna-tional distribution to institutions, libraries, bookstores (and the distributors that support those customers), and to corporations.
• Develop a strategy to prepare and submit book metadata feeds to Bowker and other end users that populate global databases with book information and will help drive dis-coverability of your titles.
Julia Lee is the senior manager, business development and strategic mar-
kets, Department of Product Development and Sales for the American Dental
Association. She can be reached at [email protected].
E. Ruth White is the senior manager, special accounts and licensing, Department
of Product Development and Sales for the American Dental Association. She can
be reached at [email protected].
“Your members are already shopping on Amazon – and so are your non-members. Consider meeting them where they already shop. You can control your product positioning instead of ceding to other sellers and expand your reach outside your existing customer base.”
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 27 8/10/18 2:43 PM
How Can Association Professionals Get Big Things Done?
34 FORUM AUGUST 2018
theAsk Expert
By Erica Dhawan
Erica Dhawan Founder & CEO
Cotential
Erica Dhawan is the world’s leading authority on Con-nectional Intelligence and the founder & CEO of Coten-tial. She is the co-author of “Get Big Things Done: The Power of Connectional Intelligence” and was the open-ing keynote speaker at Forum Forward 2018. Erica also serves as a board member to Lufthansa Innovation Hub. Previously, she worked at Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital. She has a MPA from Harvard University, a MBA from MIT Sloan, and a BS in Economics from The Whar-ton School.
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 28 8/10/18 2:43 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 35
Connectional intelligence is a shift from being a command-and-control event-focused association to an ongoing learning community dedicated to providing a service to a web of networked partners that all work together in agile ways to fulfill mutual aims. Associations must strike a bargain with themselves: on the one hand, ideas and solutions hatched through informal member connections have the potential to create far more value than those dreamt up by isolated staffs and boards; but on the other hand, forging a set of strong, produc-tive links between a scattered array of ideas, peo-ple and resources compels you to have a clear idea of your objectives.
Take the story of Jeannie Peeper. Jeannie had a rare disease called FOP and spent years trying to diagnose the illness. She started to connect with other patients who were also diagnosed with her rare disease through a Facebook group, with hundreds joining and participating on a daily basis. Soon, they created the first ever knowledge net-work across the world for this disease, developed the FOP Association to further medical research on this disease and began to fund the first ever research lab to support researchers and doctors in understanding the illness. Today her association is collaborating with universities, hospitals and even other healthcare associations.
At Forum Forward, Dhawan concluded her key-note by answering a series of questions through an Audience Response System powered by Confer-ences i/o. Below, Dhawan answers the questions that she was unable to get to during her presenta-tion due to time constraints.
How do we get our board and staff to buy into this new mindset? The key is to focus on what’s at stake for the asso-ciation. Connectional Intelligence is about ensuring future relevance with your current members and engaging the next generation of members who expect this ability as a baseline in an association.
What kind of impact can be realized if an association can truly engage our members in this new environment? I am convinced that connectional intelligence has a dramatic, positive effect on leadership through what I call the 3 T’s. Firstly, it enhances teamwork and empathy, building smarter and better ways for associations to collaborate. Secondly, it promotes transparency, shifting from staff to member service mindset to a more open community – allowing networks to determine the solutions, rather than boards. And thirdly, as a result of the first two, it helps to build or restore trust. This watershed also requires associations leaders to allow greater elasticity into key processes to stimulate the emer-gence of new approaches and products.
lot of how we measure relationships in the digital world is about quantity. How many members? How many Facebook and Twitter likes? How many event attendees? My book “Get Big Things Done”
and my research encourages a shift of focus from quantity to quality. Building rela-tionships that actually change people’s lives—that create value or meaning or both—is about making smart connections, getting the right people together, collecting the important data and using resources in the smartest way. Simply building a network doesn’t lead to measurable change. The key is how you use that network. Connec-tional intelligence describes the skill that 21st century association leaders have and that we all need to develop to maximize the potential of all our connections and put them to significant use.
A
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 29 8/10/18 2:43 PM
36 FORUM AUGUST 2018
Erica Dhawan, Founder & CEO, CotentialtheAsk Expert
What kind of budget is needed to effectively rollout and sustain CQ? The reality is that budget is irrelevant to rolling out and sustained CQ. We don’t need more headcount and programs, we need a shift in collaborative behaviors among people. Here are the 5 key behav-iors you need to build to rollout CxQ.
I identified traits that people with high levels of connectional intelligence use on a daily basis and these are the skills you need to work on building:
#1. CuriosityHow well am I framing and asking different ques-tions from different contexts to gain new perspec-tives?
#2. CombinationHow well am I taking different ideas, resources or products and combining them to create new con-cepts, new ways of thinking and surprising results?
#3. CommunityHow well am I bringing people to create, spark new ideas and develop care and mutual understanding?
#4. CourageHow well am I sparking and engaging in diverse
and difficult conversations, even in the face of uncertainty and fear, and keeping these ideas and connections alive and amplifying them?
#5. CombustionHow well am I mobilizing and igniting diverse net-works to activate and create change?
Can you talk about technology, and whether it is a tool or a crutch when it comes to commu-nity? For example, is a LinkedIn group a compliment or replace-ment to member communities? Technology is an enabler of building community, but only when it is used appropriately. One of the greatest mistakes is to start using a technology without asking these questions: What types of com-munications will be improved using this technology to build community? What communications will be reduced or eliminated elsewhere (email, phone calls) because of the power of this technology? Do we know that the community understands the pur-pose? With the appropriate intention, technology can be valuable.
“The best way to start is to cultivate an intrapreneurial culture within your association staff. One of the biggest barriers to innovation is the cultural myth that you can’t show anything to your boss until it’s finally baked – that unless it’s proven, and the answers are all there, revealing your work is somehow dangerous. To remove that barrier, we need to shift from keeping a prototype under wraps until it’s had a year of research, towards rapidly testing and develop-ing solutions. Immediately we will discover and identify the importance of diverse perspectives. ”
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 30 8/10/18 2:43 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 37
Do you recommend applying CQ to the hiring process to get the right people on board? Absolutely. Start by engaging in the online and offline communities in your industry to identify great super-connectors and collaborators. Look beyond traditional resumes and your personal net-works. Seek out individuals with vastly different skills to optimize diversity on teams. Use the 5 C’s above in your recruiting efforts.
What are some of the negatives related to CQ and how do you overcome it? Here’s one example: United Express Flight 3411 on April 9, 2017 was in a league of its own. Few who watched the viral video of passenger Dr. David Dao being dragged off the overbooked plane by security at Chicago’s O’Hare International could for-get the sound of his screams. Equally unforgettable was the response from United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz, who hailed his O’Hare workers for follow-ing “established procedures,” and added: “I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.”
While Munoz subsequently climbed down from that fulsome support of his employees, only his initial words, and the reputational damage to his airline, lingered in the public’s memory. It was an example of “connectional stupidity”: the failure of a group to collaborate internally in ways that, under more positive conditions, would have produced more agile, customer-focused behaviors. With better habits under its belt, United could have either a) devised a friendlier solution to the type of situation in which Dr. Dao was embroiled, or b) prevented its customers from being put in that position in the first place.
The failure was the inability of different busi-ness units to connect with each other, and the customer, in ways that would have shown that the customer was valued in the age of social media. Associations have to compete with this same speed of communication in today’s area and the only way to overcome it is to build this new mindset into their staff and boards.
We struggle with sharing di-verse perspectives, especially with a homogenous board. Where should we start? The best way to start is to cultivate an intrapre-neurial culture within your association staff. One of the biggest barriers to innovation is the cultural myth that you can’t show anything to your boss until it’s finally baked – that unless it’s proven, and the answers are all there, revealing your work is somehow dangerous. To remove that barrier, we need to shift from keeping a prototype under wraps until it’s had a year of research, towards rapidly testing and developing solutions. Immediately we will discover and identify the importance of diverse perspectives.
As an association, how do we get our messages to stand out from the noise and truly engage when our members are over connected?Focus less on standing out. Instead focus on com-menting and contributing to conversations that your members are already having where they are having them—by seeing yourself as a convener and con-tributor, you will engage your members.
Erica Dhawan is the founder & CEO of Cotential. Her book Get Big
Things Done, co-authored with Saj-Nicole Joni, is available now. For
more information, visit www.ericadhawan.com.
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 31 8/10/18 2:43 PM
AskAround
38 FORUM AUGUST 2018
By Teresa Brinati
The Business
of Memory Keeping
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 32 8/10/18 2:43 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 39
Archivists do all that and more. Simply defined, archivists acquire, manage, preserve, and provide access to permanently valuable records of peo-ple, organizations, businesses, and government. And an archives is the physical—and virtual—space that holds these records because of their continuing value to the organization, researchers of all kinds, and the public alike.
“The archives serves as the memory of the association,” said Amber Dushman, manager of Records Management and Archives for the Amer-ican Medical Association (AMA), which estab-lished its archives in the 1950s and since 1997 has had a full-time archivist on staff.
What’s in the Archives?“The archives is a central repository for AMA’s corporate records, including more than 90 AMA Historical Collections,” Dushman added. “This material includes the meeting records of the gov-erning bodies of the AMA, membership groups, a photograph collection that captures the meetings of the association and employee life, as well as a small artifact collection of AMA ephemera and a rare books collection.”
These items are typical of what is collected in an archives and, no doubt, will sound familiar to anyone on the staff of an association. Meghan P. Kennedy is the archivist for the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Kennedy noted that the ACS Archives, which were established in 1975, contain chiefly paper records, but also images, motion pictures, sound recordings, and artifacts that document the history and evolution of the association. Some examples include complete minutes of the ACS Board of Regents meetings,
minutes and correspondence of the various subcommittees and departments of the College, publications, records on program development, and the annual Clinical Congress.
“We also have a large collection of ACS founder Franklin H. Martin’s personal papers, which includes an incredible photo collection and provides valuable insight into the earliest years of the College,” Kennedy added.
Collecting Digital MaterialsOrganizations don’t just function on paper any-more. Your website and social media also include important material—digital images, text, audio and video—that tell your story and document your history. Have you thought about saving your digital content?
“Born digital [originating in a computer envi-ronment] is the Wild West and organizations need to find a way to collect, store, and classify these materials,” said George Kutsunis, archivist and records manager for the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA). “For any organization collecting materials since the 2000s, physical space is not nearly the challenge as is the digital space.”
A digital archives platform is essential, according to Kutsunis. AANA uses Eloquent Systems, which is one of the web-based software solutions designed to manage digital assets in one place—storage, backlog, description of items to enhance discoverability, and access to these assets by members and others.
Where the archives is situated on an or-ganizational chart varies from association to association. At AMA, the archives is under the
our association continually generates a rich array of information—pho-tos and video from your annual conference, articles in your journal and magazine, meeting minutes from your board of directors and commit-
tees, even Twitter chats and hashtag campaigns. All of this contributes to your organi-zation’s narrative, which becomes a record of your history and tells your story. But is anyone at your association tracking this information, making decisions about what to keep, then organizing it so that it’s useful?
Y
Photo courtesy of Society of American Archivists
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 33 8/10/18 2:43 PM
40 FORUM AUGUST 2018
AskAround
Human Resources Division in Corporate Services (building services, mail/shipping, reprographics, conference services, and meeting services). At ACS, the archives was initially part of the Execu-tive Services Department and is now situated in the Division of Member Services. At AANA, the archives is part of the Executive Unit and reports to the Director of Governance.
Leveraging Historical Assets No matter the setting, all three archives share a service orientation and the desire to use their historical collections to promote the association’s brand. Kutsunis routinely works with AANA’s project management, marketing, and IT depart-ments. A recently updated member’s packet now includes information about what the archives is and why it exists.
“The archives serves members and is a mem-ber benefit,” Kutsunis said of AANA, which was founded in 1931 and has had an official ar-chives for the past 23 years. As the association’s
institutional memory, the archives serves as a resource for people making decisions and leading the organization as a whole. “I’m astounded by the collections and how the problems faced by the founders of AANA are germane today, such as scope of practice and its role in a variety of practice settings,” Kutsunis added. Without the archives, these historical threads might not be evident.
When it comes to historical milestones and annual events, the archives has an obvious value. “The archives played a major role in the celebra-tion of the American College of Surgeon’s 100th anniversary, and always has a presence at the annual meeting, which includes a physical or digital exhibit featuring items from the collec-tions,” Kennedy said.
One of those items is a prized artifact—the Great Mace, a decorative ceremonial club made of metal that was presented to ACS in 1920 by surgeons of Great Britain in memory of mutual work and good fellowship during World War I. Kennedy shared that it is a tradition to present
Conference photos are one of many types of material saved in the archives. Presentation of the Great Mace to the American College of Surgeons by surgeons of Great Britain, 1920. Courtesy of the Archives of the American College of Surgeons.
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 34 8/10/18 2:43 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 41
the Great Mace each year at the convocation ceremony of the annual meeting, and it is promi-nently displayed at ACS headquarters to serve as a lasting reminder of this legacy.
At the AMA, Dushman said that the archives supports staff policy research, provides content for internal brand strategy, and answers ques-tions from media relations regarding AMA policy and advocacy. On the policy front, AMA drafted the first national code of medical ethics for the nation’s physicians. “The Code of Medical Ethics is a living document, updated periodically to address the changing conditions of medicine,” Dushman noted. The evolution of that code is documented in the archives.
Starting an Archives “Many archives begin because the organization is celebrating an anniversary or writing its history,” added Kutsunis, “But you don’t have to wait to be a mature organization to lay the groundwork for an archival collection.”
Here are tips for starting and maintaining your archives.
• “Survey the organization and talk to your colleagues!” Kennedy advised. Understand-ing how your organization operates and the types of records it creates is a key part of the process, and something Kennedy continues to do at ACS. “It’s important to first identify the goal of establishing the archives, and understand what the association is trying to accomplish by doing so. This will set a clear mission for the collection, and eventually inform policies on collecting and outreach.”
• “Keep the scope of your collection small at first,” Dushman suggested. And be clear about what materials you will—and will not—be collecting. For example, the AMA Archives doesn’t keep member or physician records
even though there is a historical component; there’s a separate business unit for that, Dushman said.
• Have fun in the process! “Internal brand strategy projects such as ‘Throwback Thurs-days’ and featuring employee life is a great way to build awareness for an archives pro-gram,” Dushman added.
• “Sell the archivist as a resource and not just the material your association keeps,” encour-aged Kutsunis. “The value of an archives is not a specific piece in the collection, but the accumulation of knowledge for your members. Associations are well served by having an archives—membership, staff, and the profes-sion at large.”
Health care and medical associations are not the only member organizations with archives and archivists on staff. The National Association of REALTORS, American Library Association, Society for Human Resource Management, and Rotary International—to name a few—are also in that mix. There are clearly many benefits for leveraging the resources collected in an archives, whether it’s in support of membership and prod-uct marketing, policy development and research, leadership and governance, or simply celebrating an anniversary. Make it your association’s busi-ness to manage its memories.
Teresa Brinati is the Director of Publishing for the Society
of American Archivists, whose members know a thing or two
about keeping archives! She may be reached at
“There are clearly many benefits for leveraging the resources collected in an archives, whether it’s in support of membership and product marketing, policy development and research, lead-ership and governance, or simply celebrating an anniversary. Make it your association’s business to manage its memories.”
FORUM_August2018Feats.indd 35 8/10/18 2:43 PM
42 FORUM AUGUST 2018
Association Management Center www.connect2amc.com 13
Bismarck Mandan CVB www.noboundariesnd.com 19
Cook and Kocher Insurance Group www.cookandkocher.com 2
Discover the Palm Beaches www.thepalmbeaches.com 5
eShow www.goeShow.com 25
Experience Kissimmee www.experiencekissimmee.com 11
Greensboro Area CVB www.visitgreensboronc.com 17
Rosen Hotels www.rosenhotels.com 3
Tourism Vancouver www.tourismvancouver.com BC
Visit Jacksonville www.visitjacksonville.com IFC
Visit Phoenix www.visitphoenix.com IBC
AUGUST 2018
AdvertisersIndex
Want to read FORUM on the go?Download the mobile FORUM Magazine app and read about the latest association trends from your phone or tablet!
To download the app from the App Store or Google Play, search for "FORUM Magazine."
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 42 8/10/18 2:44 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 43
S p o n s o r e d C o n t e n t
Business Services
Built upon a foundation of customer intimacy and mission-driven leadership, Association Management Center is passionate about and committed to furthering our client-partners’ causes and helping them grow. A trusted part-ner to healthcare and other associations since 1974, AMC provides full-service management to leading national and international organiza-tions. The strategic guidance, collaboration and vision of our leadership team combined with the expertise of our talented team mem-bers, creates an environment where our asso-ciation partners live their missions, reach their goals and achieve what they believe.
Through our strategic consulting endeav-ors, AMC shares best practices and encourages good governance throughout the association
world. Our consulting practice, AMC Consult-ing Services, offers objective, practical and customized approaches that assist associa-tions in achieving a wide variety of business goals and revealing new possibilities for their organizations. Consulting services include governance, strategic planning, board and staff development, market research, member needs, product development, content strategy and analytics, website development and design services.
Association Management Center Marilyn JansenExecutive Director, Business Development8735 W. Higgins Rd., #300Chicago, IL 60631847.375.4811 Fax: [email protected]
Education
Presented by:
Bill Benjamin Partner The Institute for Health and Human Potential (IHHP)
September 13, 20189 a.m. - Noon
Register Now!PERFORMING UNDER PRESSURE:
THE SCIENCE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Focusing on managing your emotions under pressure, this program will enable you to increase
your personal leadership by learning how to manage your emotional brain in your most difficult moments.
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 43 8/10/18 2:44 PM
44 FORUM AUGUST 2018
Location is Association Forum, 10 S. Riverside Plaza, Suite 800, Chicago, 60606, unless otherwise noted.Calendar Legend Education Events Shared Interest Group Events Webinars
Official CAE Approved
Provider
EducationCalendar
Events listed here are Association Forum programs. Further details and registration information can be found at www.associationforum.org. Programs are subject to change.
®
House Calls—We Bring the Program to You!An Association 101 house call delivers high quality educa-tion to your staff on your preferred date and without having to leave the office. This is available for groups of at least 15 and you will get a discount on the standard member rate. Contact [email protected] to learn more.
SEPT
14 Young Professionals SIG 3 – 4:30 p.m.
Communications SIG 9 – 10:30 a.m.
Governance SIG 9 – 10:30 a.m.
Fundraising SIG 9 – 10:30 a.m.
Association Management Essentials: Ins and Outs of Association Law9 a.m. – NoonThis course is designed for non-legal profession-als and will give you an understanding of laws impacting your work and your association. You will learn about governance, tax, contracts, intellectual property and antitrust.
SEPT
6
SEPT
26
SEPT
18
September 2018
SEPT
19
Finance SIG : What Every Exempt Organization Should Know About Tax Reform9 – 10:30 a.m. CAE Study Group Held weekly on Tuesday evenings from 5:30 – 8 p.m.Increase your chances of passing the CAE exam by joining the CAE study group, which provides in-depth preparation for professionals preparing for the CAE exam. Facilitated by current CAEs, the study group meets weekly for a struc-tured case-study series based on the nine domain areas.
Suburban CAE Study GroupHeld weekly on Wednesday evenings from 5:30 – 8 p.m.Increase your chances of passing the CAE exam by joining the CAE study group, which provides in-depth preparation for professionals preparing for the CAE exam. Facilitated by current CAEs, the study group meets weekly for a struc-tured case-study series based on the nine domain areas. 1061 American Lane, Schaumburg, IL, 60173-4973
Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Emotional Intelligence 9 a.m. – NoonFocusing on managing your emotions under pressure, this program will enable you to increase your personal leader-ship by learning how to manage your emotional brain in your most difficult moments. This will allow you to influ-ence and engage others, and connect with them in a more meaningful way.
International Conversation Circle: Online 8:30 – 9:30 a.m.Do you want to keep abreast of international trends for as-sociations? Have a chance to exchange ideas and learning with peers about your international initiatives and pro-grams? Please join this online conversation circle and help us get the conversation going!
SEPT
12
SEPT
11
SEPT
13
NOV
27
NOV
28
SEPT
13
SEPT
25
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 44 8/10/18 2:44 PM
www.associationforum.org FORUM 45
Online Learning!
Official CAE Approved
Provider
EducationCalendar®
Location is Association Forum, 10 S. Riverside Plaza, Suite 800, Chicago, 60606, unless otherwise noted.Calendar Legend Education Events Shared Interest Group Events Webinars
Events listed here are Association Forum programs. Further details and registration information can be found at www.associationforum.org. Programs are subject to change.
CAE Study Groups
Register Now!
OCT
11
Finance SIG9 – 10:30 a.m.
Webinar: Uncovering the Influence of Unconscious Bias 11 a.m. – NoonIn this session participants will learn the unbelievable influence that Unconscious Bias has on all of us and our organizations too. Using real life examples and individual challenges we will take a deep dive into the impact bias continues to have and how we can use bias to better attract, retain, and promote the best talent.
New SIG! Association Management Company SIG 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
OCT
9
OCT
17
pathlms.com/association-forum
Easy-to-access on-demand education always available for the association professional on-the-go. Expand your knowledge and earn CAE credits at your convenience.
October 2018
Downtown and
suburban locations!
Increase your chances of passing the CAE exam by joining the CAE study group, which provides in-depth prepara-tion for professionals preparing for the CAE exam. Facilitated by current CAEs, the study group meets weekly for a structured case-study series based on the nine domain areas.
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 45 8/10/18 2:44 PM
46 FORUM AUGUST 2018
Promotions and ChangesKimberly Redd, MSHTM, has been promoted to program manager, certification & talent development at ALA – Allied Professional Association (ALA-APA). In this role, she is responsible for the facilitation, planning and
management of leadership development programs. Redd was previously program officer, education & certification and has been with the American Library Association for 33 years. She currently serves on Association Forum’s Holiday Showcase Program Advisory Working Group.
Minding Your Business (MYB) has hired Kevin Hinton, MBA as executive vice president of strategy. Hinton brings over 20 years of leadership experience to MYB. He previously served as CEO of hinton+grusich, EVP of
Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI) and CEO of Society for Incentive Travel Excellence. Hinton has also served on the board of Meeting Planners International, including as the chair of the board in 2012-13.
In MemoriamJames M. Schulze, director of operations at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) passed away on July 20 at the age of 60. He spent the last 17 years with CSCMP and was a graduate of
Butler University and held an MBA from the Keller School of Management. James was a devoted friend and co-worker. He enjoyed sailing and was fortunate to have traveled the world. Memorial donations can be made to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary at www.bestfriends.org/donate. Associa-tion Forum expresses our sincere and deepest sympathies to the friends, family and colleagues of Schulze.
News and AwardsJeffrey P. Knezovich, CAE has been awarded a lifetime membership to Association Forum. On March 31, Knezovich retired from the association management industry after an illustrious career in which he served as
founder and chairman of The Sentergroup, Inc, executive director of the American Joint Replacement Registry and various leadership positions at American Academy of Cos-metic Surgery, American College of Surgeons and Smith-Bucklin. He has been a member of Association Forum since February 5, 1986.
Sheri L. Jacobs, FASAE, CAE has been named to the board of directors of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), as well as the ASAE Foundation board. Jacobs is the president and CEO of Avenue M Group,
LLC. She was the 2015 recipient of Association Forum’s John C. Thiel Distinguished Service Award in recognition of her outstanding service to the association community. The new board members will be officially installed at the 2018 ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition.
Karen Horting executive director and CEO of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), has been elected to the board of directors of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Sci-ence and Technology). FIRST is a non-profit
public charity that designs accessible and innovative pro-grams that motivate young people to pursue education and careers in STEM fields. SWE has been a FIRST Strategic Alliance partner since 2008 and Horting has been integral in growing SWE’s involvement in the organization.
Association Forum’s own Katie Callahan-Giobbi has been inducted into the Bizbash Hall of Fame in recognition of her dedication and leadership in the meetings and events industry. Callahan-Giobbi joined Association
Forum in February as the chief operating officer. She has over 30 years of experience as a leader in the industry, having previously held positions at Minding Your Business, Meeting Professionals International, LA INC (now LA Tour-ism) and W Hotels. Callahan-Giobbi will receive the distinc-tion on September 12 at a reception at Chicago’s Field Museum.
The Chicago-based National Speakers Bureau, Inc. has become a division of Premiere Speakers Bureau as of July 2. The organization will continue to schedule speakers and events under the National Speakers Bureau brand, while all back-end operations are integrated.
Tammy Dillard-Steels, CAE has been named executive director of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML). She joins the organization from the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), where she was
regional director of the regional services division. She has previously served as the director of constituent services at the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) and as the execu-tive director of the Urban Sustainability Authority, an orga-nization which she co-founded. Dillard-Steels is currently the chair of Association Forum’s Professional Practices Committee.
Above&Beyond
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 46 8/10/18 2:44 PM
Power of A WinnersCongratulations to the following Association Forum mem-ber organizations who were awarded this year’s Power of A Awards.
Power of A Summit Winners
The Actuarial FoundationSchaumburg, ILProgram: Math Motivators Tutoring Program
Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)Chicago, ILProgram: IFT Documentary Film: Food Evolution NRF FoundationWashington, DCProgram: RISE Up (Retail Industry Skills & Education)
Power of A Gold Winners
The Actuarial FoundationSchaumburg, ILProgram: Math Motivators Tutoring Program
Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)Chicago, ILProgram: IFT Documentary Film: Food Evolution
Society of Critical Care MedicineMount Prospect, ILProgram: 2017 Hurricane Response
Society of Critical Care MedicineMount Prospect, ILProgram: Sepsis in Resource Limited Nations
Power of A Silver
American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Downers Grove, ILProgram: ASGE GI Operations Benchmarking Survey
American Society of AnesthesiologistsSchaumburg, ILProgram: Anesthesia SimSTAT
American Academy of DermatologyRosemont, ILProgram: Prior Authorization Customized Letter Generator
Institute of Real Estate ManagementChicago, ILProgram: Introducing a Property Management Credential in South Africa
Society of Critical Care MedicineMount Prospect, ILProgram: Fundamental Critical Care Support Program
New Association Forum MembersIndividual MembersDavid Boden, TransUnion
Ralph DeVitto, American Brain Tumor Association
Claire Dooms and Jason Hendrix, American College of Surgeons
Kathleen Fultz, Water Quality Association
Debra Kelleher, I-CAR
Heather Leekins, American Technology Services, Inc.
Jacqueline Luna-Montes, American Society of Plastic Surgeons
Laura Mishlove, Wintrust Financial Corporation
Elizabeth Mullis and Joe Thompson, Grapevine Convention & Visitors Bureau
Kurt Peterson, Wipfli LLP
Brecht Putman, VisitFLANDERS
Felipe Reyes
J.R. Samples, Adage Technologies
Casandra Scales, American Association of Orthodontists
Chuck Stich, Delta Dental Plans Association
Matt Zach, International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety
www.associationforum.org FORUM 47
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 47 8/10/18 2:45 PM
48 FORUM AUGUST 2018
NewsToUseDigital ExtraTo access Association Me-dia & Publishing’s “2017 Publishing Benchmarking Study” visit the digital or mobile versions of FORUM.
Good news, publishing professionals: Print is alive and well! The age of digital has arrived for associations, but print magazines and journals are still the cornerstone of association publishing.
According to the Publishing Benchmarking Study released by Association Media & Publishing (AM&P) in partnership with Sabatier Consulting, only 6 percent of associations print their flagship publication exclusively online. However, digital content vehicles continue to be an important part of the equation, with 91 percent of respondents indicating that they use a combination of print and digital.
Source: Association Media & Publishing, “2017 Publishing Benchmarking Survey”
Insights from the 2017 Publishing Benchmarking Study
Format
Outsourcing
To help meet the publishing needs of their members, associations are increasingly looking to outside help. The most commonly outsourced functions are advertising sales, publication design and digital conversion. On the flip-side, the more editorial-based tasks—editing, circulation manage-ment and proofreading—are all overwhelming handled in-house. These numbers may change, however, as 21 percent of respondents said they were planning to outsource more publishing functions in the coming year.
FORUM_August2018Depts.indd 48 8/10/18 2:45 PM
T H E Y S A Y W E ’ R E N O T L I K E O T H E R C I T I E S .
W E S A Y, T H A T ’ S O U R B E S T F E A T U R E .
You’re not looking for
another breakout—you want a
breakthrough. In a city where
unconventional places meet
state-of-the-art convention space,
success can be found everywhere
you turn. So come, and let Phoenix
surprise you. Explore more at
VisitPhoenix.com/meetings.
FORUM_August2018Cover.indd 3 8/10/18 2:42 PM
GREAT MINDS MEET HEREMake your event stand out in the minds of your attendees by hosting it in Vancouver, a city known worldwide for itsinnovative spirit and natural beauty.
Visit tourismvancouver.com/meetings to see what’s newand start planning your best meeting yet.
FORUM_August2018Cover.indd 4 8/10/18 2:42 PM
